For Republicans, hope should Trump fear

In what amounted to a valedictory address to the nation at the 1992 Republican National Convention, Ronald Reagan said that “whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears.”

The tenor of the current presidential campaign, alas, has been just the opposite, full of anger, insults and fearmongering. Yet it need not be so. In this first full week of a new year, we should demand a more Reaganesque approach — and reward it.

First, let’s be clear: Reagan’s approach was more than just a slogan. His original “make America great again” in 1980, unlike Donald Trump’s copycat use of the phrase in this election, was matched by plenteous substance — and also matched by a tone that, while resolute and clear-headed about the nation’s dire condition, appealed (also quoting the 1992 convention speech) “to your confidence rather than your doubts.”….

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And, decidedly unlike today’s Republican front-runner, Reagan said America could be great again not because he himself was a powerful magician who could make it so, but because the people themselves were resourceful and would succeed if only the government didn’t hamper them. As he said in his 1980 convention speech, “’Trust me’ government asks that we concentrate our hopes and dreams on one man; that we trust him to do what’s best for us. My view of government places trust not in one person or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and parties. The trust is where it belongs — in the people.”….

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